I am currently finishing a book called “Living in the Flow” by Sky Nelson-Isaacs. It is a book about the intersection of quantum mechanics and faith. One of the questions it attempts to answer: Is the Universe friendly? In a faith community, we would ask it differently: Why do bad things happen to good people?
It concludes the universe is neither friendly, hostile or indifferent but that it is responsive. In other words, if we are hostile to the world, then the world will be hostile back to us. If we are friendly to the world, it will be friendly back. While it does not make it as simple as “we get out of the world, what we will put into this world,” it certainly leans heavily that way. It is a profoundly eye-opening read and it certainly pushes the limits of my mind about how the world works from a scientific point of view and how these brilliant people are finding ways to articulate what has largely been a mystery to humanity.
As people of faith, we would certainly agree that the universe is responsive to us but we would go one step further and say that God’s divine grace enables us to choose goodness and the universe will respond to that goodness, but we might not always see it in our lifetime. There is great alignment with his thoughts as a scientist and what we believe as people of faith and it is exciting to see people working on bringing our understandings together.
One of the most important breakthroughs that quantum physics has brought to the world has been the general acceptance of how little we know about the way the world works. Yes, science and humanity has discovered a great deal over the centuries, but quantum physics has pushed us back into the unknown again where mystery is again being embraced readily as a humble first step in new understanding. One of the areas they explore is the reality of relationship in all knowledge seeking. That “reality changes when we change” is a well-accepted theory not just in faith but also in science.
Today’s feast of the Most Holy Trinity is all about relationships. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in relationship to each other and to all of us. St. Augustine defines the Trinity as the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the love that flows between them. When we enter into discipleship and follow Jesus as our brother to do the will of the Father, then we enter into that divine flow of energy where we are loved by the Father and the Son and that love is the Holy Spirit flowing between us.
I don’t want to spend time analyzing how quantum mechanics can establish this scientifically, but it is clear to me the more I love others, the more I am able to receive God’s love. And the more I receive God’s love the more I feel compelled to love others. It is the virtuous circle at work! In the parlance of quantum mechanics, we have entered “the flow” and the universe will respond to us and help us to respond to it.
For nearly 64 years, Fr. Mike Burns served as a priest and he entered that flow of loving others and allowing others to love him—that is a lot of love! He instinctively knew life was all about relationships and he worked hard at being a good friend and priest. He was amazing at engaging people at all ages and calling them into that love flow of the Trinity. He loved his priesthood, he loved this community of St. Simon, he loved the Daughters of Charity, and he loved celebrating Mass everywhere he could. He loved his previous communities of St. Rose, St. Elizabeth, Sacred Heart, The Church of the Resurrection, Visitacion Church, Santa Teresa, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception and St. Nicholas & St. William, with lots of friends still coming by to visit him regularly. He loved life and he loved people and it showed till his last days. He was a great model of priesthood in how to love the people and be loved. May he rest in peace. He will be enjoying eternal life with Jesus and all the saints and reconnecting with all his old friends who have gone before him. He will now accompany us on our journey of life. Please continue to pray for him and with him and continue to accept his love from heaven.
His funeral will be 11am, Tuesday, June 14 here at St. Simon, the anniversary of his ordination to priesthood. Unfortunately, I cannot be here as I will be traveling out of town but I will be with you all in spirit as we celebrate his life.
Speaking of relationships, next weekend we celebrate Father’s Day at all Masses with a blessing and gift for all fathers present and we will sing a meditation song in gratitude and recognition of the love we have shared with all our fathers, living and deceased, those who were our birth fathers and those who have acted as fathers to us over the years. Come and join us at any of the Masses in person and if not then join us online for the livestream.
I hope you join us on Saturday evening at 7pm for our free Concert for Peace. Tamami Honma, our Choir Director along with John Angotti and two ensembles, the Cal Arte Ensemble and San Francisco Brass Band will be performing with our Saint Simon Choir. It will be a great evening of entertainment and we will take up free-will offerings to support the refugees in Ukraine.
God bless
Fr. Brendan